Derek Lyons wrote:

"bob" wrote:

The point was, that unlike all previous missions we could remember, the
people at JPL/NASA were acting as if the landing confirmation signals they
were watching represented a live right now event, never mentioning, as
everyone seemed to on pathfinder/viking et al that in fact the event had
actually happened 10 minutes before, and this was just the first news we
had of what had happened.

The previous landing were not the media spectacles that such events
are today.

We all agree it was more exciting this way, and even went to the
metaphysical that in relativistic terms, "now" is defined by the speed of
light, and this caveat is nothing more than a de-energizing footnote.

Welcome to the Brave New World of space exploration, where excitement,
hype, and headlines are the primary products of the mission.

If they want hype and TV ratings, they ought to let Pat write all the press
releases and conduct mission briefings . . . ;-)

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
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